VISCERAL 2022

International Contemporary Art exhibition

June, 28th - July, 4th 2022

Concept by Art Curator Silvia Grassi

How do we know what is the wisest thing to do? In the heat of the moment, how do we decide? If you talk to some philosophers, they may tell you that we simply need to reason. But experience suggests that things don't work that way. Most of the time we don't have time to sit down and think. So how do we make decisions? Often, we follow our gut feelings and instincts. Visceral, deep, instinctive, but also irrational. The word visceral derives from the late Latin visceralis and literally means "of the bowels", or in medicine it is what affects one or more viscera, in a broader sense everything related to the systems responsible for vegetative life, the systems that allow us to to live. Metaphorically it has therefore assumed the meaning of all that is profound, inherent in each of us. Doing something visceral means acting instinctively, following the voice of our deepest self that often guides us and makes us act without thinking too much. At the same time it also indicates something irrational and non-critical, as if it arose from the guts and was inherent in our individual biological constitution. Since ancient times it has been said that the belly is the seat of emotions and the unconscious. In recent years, medical research has discovered that there is a second brain that we could define as abdominal/visceral that functions independently from the upper one. The existence of a direct abdomen-head communication has been demonstrated: serotonin continuously keeps the head updated on what is happening in the belly. It was then discovered that the intestine works autonomously, helping to fix memories related to emotions and has a fundamental role in signaling joy and pain. In short, it is the seat of a real second brain. The word "visceral" is in fact used to indicate that a thing, an attitude or a way of expressing oneself is very intimate, passionate, intense. Something significant, full of feelings (both positive and negative), linked more to the impulse and instinct than to the rational. As the word itself says, when we use the term visceral we refer to a way of expressing ourselves that comes from within us. The idea that there is something that emerges directly from us and that comes out naturally gives us the feeling that it is something truly natural, not rationalized, which appears through instinct and which does not always measure the consequences it can generate. In this sense, art has, in many respects, a profound relationship with what is visceral, since it has always been the most sincere and least rational way that human beings have of expressing themselves. Artists are often seen - in fact - as carefree people, not repressed by social guidelines and who bring out of their being all those feelings and sensations that arise in their bowels and that they cannot repress or silence. Art has always had the power to be the means of expression to give vent to one's irrational instinct. Through their art, each artist can truly express himself without being subject to rules, without having to follow a line or a thought.

M.A.D.S. calls artists from all over the world together to shout loudly: «Let your instincts free! Let it guide you! Don't repress it! Leave it free to express itself through your art! "

M.A.D.S. asks the artists to give voice to their deepest, most intimate and most visceral self - in fact -.